Judy Shepard, the mother of hate crime victim Matthew Shepard, spoke to a crowd of students and members of the public Thursday, March 27, 2014, at Montgomery County Community College's Science Center Theater in Blue Bell, Pa.

BLUE BELL — One woman’s fight for the memory of her lost son was the lesson Montgomery County Community College offered on equality Thursday.

Judy Shepard, the mother of the late Matthew Shepard and an anti-hate crimes activist, gave her presentation “The Meaning of Matthew” at the college’s Science Center theater, as part of the school’s presidential symposium on diversity.

The presidential symposium and its civil rights advocacy mission is one of the many events scheduled by the college this year relating to its 50th anniversary celebration, according to a press release.

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Matthew Shepard, 21, was tortured and murdered in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 because he was gay. The story made national headlines and was the focus of the 2002 film “The Laramie Project.”

Shepard’s continuous efforts since then have led to The Matthew Shepard Foundation and, ultimately, to the passage of the Federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed in 2009.

Among those in attendance for the event was county commissioners’ Chairman Josh Shapiro.

The packed theater listened as Shepard began by reading the same statement she gave during the trial of her son’s killers. She told the story about how she was visiting Saudi Arabia when she received word her son was in the hospital and detailed the 25-hour trip it took to get back to see him before he died.

“I hoped he could hold on until we could be with him,” she read.

Matthew had been tied to a fence and left alone for 18 hours, she said. When they arrived at the hospital, she said, he was heavily bandaged with tubes coming out of him.

“How could anyone feel so threatened by this tiny sweet child?” Shepard said. “All our hopes for Matt were killed.”

After finishing her story, Shepard told the crowd crimes like the one her son fell victim to are the result of a “sick society” or a “silent, indifferent and complacent” society. She urged the spread of education because “your voice is the most powerful tool to fight hate.”

According to Shepard, after the passage of the Federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act, detailed reports began to show that hate crimes rank second behind crimes against race across the country. She said transgendered individuals are victimized widely but their stories are not as widely told, often because the victims are afraid of being outed.

Shepard also said many states do not protect jobs for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and people can be fired because of their sexual orientation.

“The only job that is protected is the military,” she said. “I find that ironic.”

She told the crowd it was “critical that you all tell your story” because change wouldn’t happen without people speaking up and making people deal with the issue.

“I wish it didn’t matter but it does matter,” she said. “You are who you are. You love who you love. Sexuality is a very fluid thing.”

Shepard said the LGBT community has the same dreams, aspirations and hopes as anyone else, and that includes the dream of being able to marry someone they love.

“If you can go to Vegas and be married by Elvis, what’s the big deal?” she quipped. “And I don’t think it’s really Elvis [either].”

Shepard told the crowd the gay community has been around forever and made a number of contributions to society in terms of inventions, arts and other avenues.

“We all want the same things,” she said. “That’s to be a human being. In a perfect world maybe we’ll all just be people.”

Afterward Shepard took questions from the crowd, which ranged from how to influence older adults who may have trouble understanding the issue, to the idea of forgiving those who hate.

“I don’t blame those boys [who hurt her son] entirely,” she said, “but society a little more for letting them think it was OK to do that to Matt.”

Shepard had nothing but kind things to say about the MCCC crowd.

“It went great,” she said. “The audience was wonderful. Great questions, smart questions. It was really fun to see everybody here.”

Shapiro had glowing remarks for Shepard’s presentation.

“Judy Shepard’s remarks were powerful,” he said, “and a reminder of how far we’ve come and how much work we still have to do. I’m blessed to live in a community like Montgomery County that values equality and tolerance, but I also recognize that there’s work to be done and I’m proud to be a voice in that effort.”

“We need marriage equality in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro continued. “We need to pass a hate crimes law in Pennsylvania that includes sexual identity and gender equality. We also need to make sure that we have a bill that protects us from discrimination in employment and housing for those in the LGBT community. Those are just three examples of what we need to do.”

MCCC President Dr. Karen Stout praised Shepard for her remarks.

“Well, I’m overwhelmed by it,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed by the spirit of community and the questions and how thoughtful the questions were. I’m overwhelmed by the students who are doing ‘The Laramie Project’ next week. I think this is a really, really important topic for all colleges to be addressing if they haven’t already addressed it. And I feel like, as a community college, we’re really working hard to create a welcoming environment for gay, lesbian and transgendered students. I’m very proud of that. I’m proud of the work that we’re doing here and proud of the openness. And I’m proud of this county for the progressiveness of thinking that was on display here. I thought Mrs. Shepard was absolutely terrific.”